The present invention pertains to compacting devices, and more particularly pertains to a compacting device which conforms recyclable and non-recyclable refuse material into generally rectilinear bales, and which conforms aluminum and tin material into generally stable, square-shaped bales that can be easily stored and transported for recycling into usable products. The compacting device of the present invention also compacts material such as glass, plastic, and cardboard for storage and eventual recycling.
As America enters the twenty-first century, the condition and viability of the environment will be crucial for continued economic progress as well as the general health of our society. Recycling the innumerable materials our industrial society produces is of paramount importance if we are to prevent further degradation of the environment and check the depletion of our natural resources.
The amount of material--garbage--that contemporary American society produces and which must be consequently disposed of in some manner is enormous and growing. An average of four pounds of garbage are tossed out each day by every American. This amounts to one-half ton of garbage produced and consequently pitched out each year by every American. Nationally this amounts to 179.6 million tons of garbage generated annually--enough to fill a convoy of ten-ton garbage trucks more than 145,000 miles long. This tremendous amount of garbage is predicted to rise; the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by the year 2000 each American will generate 4.4 pounds of garbage daily, amounting to 216 million tons annually.
The staggering amount of garbage contemporary society produces is compounded by the fact that our main means of disposal is by landfills--73% of America's garbage is deposited into landfills. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that one-third of existing landfills will close in two years, and 80% are scheduled to shut down within twenty years. The disposal of the rest of our garbage is through recycling (13%) and incineration (14%). With opposition to landfills and waste incinerators increasing costs for existing facilities and preventing the construction of new facilities, more productive, creative, and cost-effective ways for disposing of our garbage must be found.
Although recycling is not a panacea to society's garbage problem, it is an obvious and necessary component of the solution. A number of products used by the typical American household are recyclable. The products include: newspapers, magazines and catalogs, telephone books, food jars, beverage bottles, beverage containers, milk containers, polystyrene sandwich clamshells, cups and plates, aluminum beverage cans, and "tin" cans for food and beverages (steel that is sometimes plated with tin). According to 1988 statistics, glass, metals, and plastics account for 23.5% of household trash. However, the recycling prospects for glass food jars and beverage bottles, plastic beverage containers, aluminum beverage cans, and tin-plated steel food and beverage cans are rated as very good to excellent. (The above statistics were published in "How We Can Win Our War Against Garbage", Popular Science, October 1990.)
The first step in the recycling and reclamation process is to break down or reduce the material to a form in which the material can be transported to recycling centers. In reduced or broken down form the material can be temporarily stored at these centers while awaiting further processing at a materials recovery facility.
A number of devices have been employed to break down or reduce bulk items like glass bottles, plastic containers, aluminum and steel cans. The devices range from large compacting and separating devices for industrial facilities to small compacting devices for household use. For example, the Sullivan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,246 discloses an apparatus and an associated method for crushing metal containers. Sullivan's compactor includes a housing having a compaction chamber and a supply means for providing material to the compaction chamber. The compactor includes a first ram for compacting the material and a second ram for discharging the compacted material from the compactor. It is a large and cumbersome device which is impractical for households and even small businesses. Despite such inventions, there remains a need for a compacting device which is portable, easy to operate and maintain, and capable of compacting material into a form that can be easily managed for disposal or for storage and transportation to a recycling center or materials recovery facility.